For three quarters, it was a party for the Silver Lake Regional High boys basketball team and senior forward Tucker Bouchard as he notched his 1,000 career point.

Whitman-Hanson, however, almost crashed their party with a fourth-quarter comeback.

Trailing, 52-36, entering the final quarter, the Panthers (12-4, 6-3) roared back into the game before falling short, 66-63, in their Patriot League Keenan Division clash.

The Lakers (10-5, 5-4) were unable to ice the game as they missed four out of five free throws in the final 30 seconds.

Whitman-Hanson junior Colin Arseneau launched a 3-pointer that would have tied the game at 64, but it went halfway down and then rimmed out with 12 seconds left.

Senior Dondre James (12 points, five rebounds) front-rimmed another 3-point attempt just before the buzzer sounded, leaving Whitman-Hanson three points short of a spectacular comeback.

“We just played with more intensity,” said Whitman-Hanson coach Bob Rodgers of the fourth-quarter rally. “We moved the ball better and we got stuff off our defense and started to hit a few shots.”

It was all Silver Lake over the first three quarters.

Silver Lake coach Sean Donovan said that the early energy the Lakers showed came from the excitement of Bouchard’s milestone as he entered the game with 991 points, and finished with a game-high 27 points.

The Lakers jumped out to a 20-7 lead in the first quarter with Bouchard netting four points to pull within five points of 1,000.

In the second quarter, Bouchard grabbed an offensive rebound and converted the putback to leave him at 999.

On the Lakers’ next possession, Tucker called for the ball in the backcourt and matched up one-on-one at the top of the key with his defender, Bouchard hit a step-back jumper just inside the 3-point line to earn the career milestone.

“It’s crazy,” said Bouchard of the achievement. “When it happened, I was speechless. I kind of just looked up there and I did a little fist bump with the adrenaline going.”

Bouchard reached 1,000 in just over 21/2 seasons. As a freshman, he only suited up for the Lakers’ final two varsity games for 11 total points.

“I’ve always thought about (being a 1,000-point scorer),” said Bouchard, “but I didn’t think I had a chance.”

Bouchard now has an edge over his father, who also played at Silver Lake back in his high school days.

The Panthers entered the day tied for the Patriot League Keenan Division lead with Hingham and Quincy. Hingham defeated Quincy on Friday, 75-62, to take the division lead.

“I don’t get wrapped up in that,” said Rodgers of falling out of first place. “We still control our own destiny in terms of wanting to get a share of this thing. We just got to start to play better basketball.”